With 24 seconds remaining in Thursday night's game, Calvin College men's basketball coach Kevin Vande Streek exhorted his team to "make one more stop, one more stop."

The Knights did just that, defensively preventing unbeaten Adrian from getting any quality attempts in the closing seconds.

The Bulldogs, ranked No. 7 in Division III, did get three shots, but none of them found the mark. The Knights prevailed 56-50 in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association opener for both teams.

"They are so good defensively, and it's so hard to score against them, but we finally found a way to eke in a couple of baskets," Calvin coach Kevin Vande Streek said. "It's nice to have the lead when you get down to the last three or four minutes."

Calvin (10-2, 1-0 MIAA) got the lead for good with an 8-0 run early in the second half that turned a two-point deficit into a 35-29 lead as Vande Streek improved to 16-1 in MIAA openers.

Adrian (11-1, 0-1) got close on a couple of occasions, but Calvin retained the lead the rest of the way to improve to 10-2 for the season.

Tyler Kruis, who scored 14 points to share scoring honors for Calvin with Bryan Powell, converted a three-point play with 7 minutes, 20 seconds remaining, bumping Calvin's lead to 45-40.

"I think we just wanted it," Kruis said. "We were 9-2, and we wanted to prove ourselves. Adrian was (undefeated). We wanted to play a good game and beat them on our court."

Kruis also knocked down two free throws at the end of the first half to send the teams into the locker rooms tied at 25-25.

"I was not hitting any of my shots (1 for 7 at halftime), and I was kind of frustrated, but those two free throws helped me get my confidence back," Kruis said. "I think it was big for the team, too, going in at halftime tied instead of down by two."

While Kruis was finding his shot — 3-for-6 in the second half and 4-for-4 from the line — his teammates were finding Tom Snikkers, the senior captain who finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Eric Lewis had 17 points for Adrian and Cody Barnes added 12 points, but the Bulldogs got little help from their bench. Only eight players saw action, and the bench contributed just seven points.

"Defensively, they took away a lot of the things that we like to do," Adrian coach Mark White said. "We didn't get into a rhythm offensively, and we shot terribly (20-of-51, 39 percent), but their defense had a lot to do with that.

"Calvin has a lot of depth and a lot of experience, and they're playing at home. Our kids made a great effort but we didn't have it offensively today."